Virtual responsibility: Understanding consumer engagement in corporate social responsibility virtual reality experiences across heavy and low product users
Abstract
This study investigates the role of virtual reality (VR) in enhancing audience engagement with corporate social responsibility (CSR) campaigns. Focusing on heavy versus low product users, the research explores how value congruence — alignment between audience values and campaign messages — and immersive VR presence shape attitudes toward CSR initiatives. Using a VR CSR campaign as the context, findings reveal that tailored messaging strategies can optimise engagement across diverse user groups. For low users, aligning campaign values with broader societal goals enhances favourable attitudes, while heavy users respond more positively to practical, non-judgmental messaging emphasising incremental behaviour change. The study underscores VR’s potential as a transformative tool for fostering meaningful connections and advancing CSR goals in a wide range of industries. These insights offer scalable implications for designing impactful CSR campaigns that resonate with diverse consumer segments, leveraging the immersive power of VR to achieve greater social and corporate impact. This article is also included in The Business & Management Collection which can be accessed at https://hstalks .com/business/.
The full article is available to subscribers to the journal.
Author's Biography
Yoon-Joo Lee is an associate professor in the Department of Strategic Communication at the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, Washington State University. Her research focuses on how consumers make sense of advertising messages, and on race and ethnicity issues in health communication, with an emphasis on emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality and biometrics. She has received various awards and grants for her work, and her research has been published in such journals as the International Journal of Advertising, Journal of Interactive Advertising and Journal of Business Research. Dr Lee is an associate editor for the International Journal of Advertising and serves on the editorial review board of the Journal of Advertising. She holds doctorate and master’s degrees in information science and communication with an emphasis on advertising from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.
Huan Chen chairs the Department of Advertising at the University of Florida. Her research focuses on artificial intelligence and communication, social media and advertising, and international and cross-cultural advertising. She has received various awards and grants for her work, and it has been published in such journals as the Journal of Advertising, International Journal of Advertising and Journal of Business Research, among others. Dr Chen serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Advertising, International Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Interactive Advertising, Annals of Management Science and the Journal of Ethnographic & Qualitative Research. Dr Chen earned her PhD in communication and information from the University of Tennessee, her MA in advertising from the University of Florida and her BA in advertising and MA in communication from Wuhan University.
Wen Zhao is the Director of Public Relations and an associate professor in the Department of Communication at Fairfield University, with an affiliation in the Asian Studies Program. Her research focus includes corporate social responsibility communication, social media analytics and emerging media technologies. Dr Zhao’s work has been recognised with various awards, and has been published in such leading journals as Computers in Human Behavior, Social Science Computer Review, Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising, Atlantic Journal of Communication and Journalism Practice, among others. She earned a PhD in communication from Washington State University and a master’s degree from Florida State University. Before academia, Dr Zhao worked in public relations and marketing communications, focusing on socially responsible initiatives.
